Species
+

Cnidoscolus aconitifolius (Mill.) I.M.Johnst.

Chaykol, Spinach tree, Treadsoftly, Tree spinach

Climate known 52 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, commonly known as chaya, tree spinach, Mayan tree spinach, or spinach tree, is a large, fast-growing and leafy perennial shrub in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cnidoscolus aconitifolius”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cnidoscolus

Cnidoscolus is a genus of plants in the family Euphorbiaceae that was erected in 1827. The group is widespread across much of North and South America, including the West Indies.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cnidoscolus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
(Mill.) I.M.Johnst.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +9
Wild records
1050 in range· 786 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
May, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1265mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 231 mm (CHELSA)
Light
25–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1265 mm a year, wettest September at 231 mm, driest March at 26 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cnidoscolus napaeifolius; Jatropha aconitifolia Mill.; Jatropha aconitifolia var. genuina Müll.Arg.; Jatropha longipedunculata Brandegee; Jatropha napaeifolia Desr. ex A.Juss., 1824 and 2 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (948 mm of 1265 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.4 °C against a yearly mean of 25.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1265 mm a year, wettest September at 231 mm, driest March at 26 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1265 mm a year at the habitat, 948 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 231 mm, driest March at 26 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 863 mm to 2635 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 13.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 13.4 °C, the absolute minimum 10.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 18.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 10.8 °C to 21.3 °C), warmest day 31.2 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 26 °C in Jan to 31 °C in May; mean night from 19 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1265 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 712 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 10.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°38.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)10.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 25–41RH 58–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 712 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 21–2928 / 23–3129 / 25–3331 / 27–3531 / 27–3530 / 25–3429 / 24–3430 / 25–3429 / 24–3328 / 23–3127 / 23–3026 / 22–29
Night °C19 / 11–2119 / 12–2220 / 13–2322 / 15–2423 / 16–2524 / 17–2523 / 16–2523 / 16–2523 / 16–2522 / 15–2420 / 13–2319 / 11–22
Rain mm33 / 9–9929 / 8–7926 / 8–6041 / 18–7795 / 49–193201 / 141–354182 / 126–358193 / 134–367231 / 157–436141 / 80–33253 / 19–22140 / 8–144
DLI26 / 23–3431 / 28–3837 / 34–4341 / 38–4540 / 37–4437 / 32–4038 / 33–4137 / 32–4033 / 29–3530 / 27–3327 / 25–3325 / 22–32
RH %60 / 55–6760 / 54–6558 / 53–6358 / 53–6460 / 55–6664 / 60–7064 / 60–7064 / 60–7066 / 63–7164 / 61–7062 / 58–6961 / 56–68

Each figure is the median across the 712 grid cells holding the 1028 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1387:1833 (20.625, -88.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 712 distinct grid cells holding the 1028 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1387:1833 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.50_-88.125, lapse-corrected +3 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 29 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama· introduced: Philippines, Line Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker20.625, -89.475 · in the densest population, 300 records (29% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1050 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 786 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 13 km away. 354 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 22 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1050 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cnidoscolus aconitifoliusCnidoscolus aconitifoliusCnidoscolus aconitifoliusCnidoscolus aconitifoliusCnidoscolus aconitifoliusCnidoscolus aconitifoliusCnidoscolus aconitifoliusCnidoscolus aconitifolius

Photographs: (c) Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Cenoteando, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (5); (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Phytochemical screening and in vitro bioactivity of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius (Euphorbiaceae)
Awoyinka, Balogun, Ogunnowo (2007) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research
Determination of β-Carotene and Lutein Available from Green Leafy Vegetables by an in Vitro Digestion and Colonic Fermentation Method
José C. E. Serrano, Isabel Goñi, Fulgêncio Saura-Calixto (2005) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
ENHANCEMENT OF TOTAL PHENOLICS AND ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF SOME TROPICAL GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES BY STEAM COOKING
Stephen Adeniyi Adefegha, Ganiyu Oboh (2011) · Journal of Food Processing and Preservation
Hepatoprotective Effects of Ethanolic Extract of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius on Paracetamol-Induced Hepatic Damage in Rats
Ademola Adetokunbo Oyagbemi, A.A. Odetola (2010) · Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences
The biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using aqueous leaf extracts of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius and their biological activities
Reuben Samson Dangana, Reama Chinedu George, Femi Kayode Agboola (2023) · Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews
Ethnobotanic, phytochemical uses and ethnopharmacological profile of genus Cnidoscolus spp. (Euphorbiaceae): A comprehensive overview
Luiz Francisco Wemmenson Gonçalves Moura, João Xavier da Silva Neto, Tiago Deiveson Pereira Lopes, Stephen Rathinaraj Benjamin (2018) · Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy
Phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity of Cnidoscolus chayamansa and Cnidoscolus aconitifolius: A review
Aarón Kuri-García, Jorge Luis Chávez‐Servín, HU Siqiang (2017) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 105 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.